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Angelica Jade Bastién

Critic
See all their articles from across New York Magazine

Angelica Jade Bastién is a critic for New York and Vulture focusing on pop culture. She was once described by a close friend as “deliciously vulgar”.

  1. movie review
    The Tender Gut Punch of The Worst Person in the WorldWith heart, splendor, and yearning, co-writer and director Joachim Trier ends his Oslo Trilogy.
  2. movie review
    The Matrix Resurrections Is a Messy, Imperfect TriumphDirecting solo for the first time, Lana Wachowski creates a thrillingly romantic blockbuster that expands the possibilities of the form.
  3. best of 2021
    The Best Movies of 2021Snapshots of moviegoing in the year in-person cinema returned with a vengeance.
  4. best of 2021
    What Made a Movie Great in 2021?Our critics break down what goes into naming the best of the year.
  5. new york in your bones
    The 101 Best New York City Movies, RankedSome movies reflect the perilous reality of living here, others the urbane fantasy. The greatest do both.
  6. movie review
    Joaquin Phoenix Gives a Career-Best Performance in C’mon C’monMike Mills’s latest film is a balm for these chaotic, heartbreaking times.
  7. endings
    The Cast of Queen Sugar Closes the Book on Season Six“A lot of the flowers we see in season six,” says Nicholas L. Ashe, “were planted as seeds in season one.”
  8. tv review
    Claws Is Perfect Summer TVThe candy-colored noir is also a great venue for Niecy Nash’s indelible performance.
  9. chat room
    Niecy Nash on the Claws Finale and Why Desna Is a ‘Strip-Mall Superhero’“How long can you run around in skintight jumpsuits, you know?”
  10. movie review
    Eternals Is Nobody’s FilmChloé Zhao’s MCU entry is stuffed to the gills with movie stars, yet it has no idea what to do with all that shine.
  11. legacies
    The Enduring Legacy of Buffy the Vampire SlayerThe series was at its best charting women in moments of fraught transition.
  12. tv review
    Insecure Remains Magical and Messy in Its Final SeasonThe series draws to a close with a characteristically effervescent yet uneven exploration of the dynamics of 30-something life.
  13. profile
    Writing Through the MomentThe Kings are known for making TV that captures the Zeitgeist. It’s a high-wire act that’s gotten trickier post-Trump.
  14. tv review
    The Handsome Tragedies of Y: The Last ManThe FX on Hulu show poses spiky questions about gender, family, and human nature in the midst of trauma. Does it have the skill to answer them?
  15. movie review
    Candyman Is a Soulless, Didactic ReimaginingNia DaCosta and Jordan Peele’s horror sequel gravely misunderstands the allure of the original and has nothing meaningful to say on its own.
  16. movie review
    The Women of Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake Deserve BetterIs this really the best Hollywood can offer the likes of Michelle Yeoh and Angela Bassett?
  17. movie review
    Cruella Is the Girl-Bossification of the MadwomanCruella takes one of the richest narrative archetypes and whittles her down into a glossy, hollow, capitalism-approved monster.
  18. tv review
    The Underground Railroad Is the Cinematic Event of the YearThis is a series not witnessed but felt.
  19. movie review
    Those Who Wish Me Dead Is a Straight Shot of AdrenalineThe neo-Western-inflected work is striking in its aesthetic decisions. And it proves once more why Angelina Jolie is a star.
  20. movie review
    Mortal Kombat Is Hollywood’s Latest Disappointing Action FilmIt’s another reminder that filmmakers have forgotten what to do with the human body.
  21. tv review
    Them Is Pure Degradation PornHeavy on torture and low on meaning, the Little Marvin–created, Lena Waithe–produced series reveals the empty promise of representation in Hollywood.
  22. the art of ending things
    The 101 Greatest Endings in Movies HistoryGood finales offer catharsis. The best deny us closure altogether.
  23. movie review
    Judas and the Black Messiah: When Hollywood Co-opts Radical HistoryThe movie gets neither the beauty and complications of Blackness, nor the outright depravity of white supremacy.
  24. movie review
    The Utter Emotional Inauthenticity of Netflix’s Malcolm & MarieNo one comes out of this film unscathed — including Zendaya.
  25. overnights
    Euphoria Special Recap: Most GirlsIn its second, Jules-centric holiday special, the series returns to its ostentatious roots, undercutting the potential of its own story.
  26. endings
    Emerald Fennell Explains HerselfHer icy film Promising Young Woman set off a fascinating conversation about what we expect from rape-revenge stories.
  27. movie review
    The Empty Spectacle of Wonder Woman 1984The disappointing sequel highlights not only the dire state of the live-action superhero genre, but the dire state of Hollywood filmmaking as a whole.
  28. movie review
    Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Fails the Woman Behind a LegendIn Netflix’s rote adaptation of August Wilson’s play, Viola Davis falters while Chadwick Boseman fares better.
  29. best of 2020
    The Best Horror Movies of 2020In a year defined by fear and anxiety, these ten films managed to provide haunts and delights.
  30. best of 2020
    The Best TV of 2020These aren’t just very good TV shows. These were our escapes from despair.
  31. best of 2020
    The Best Movies of 2020The screens looked different, but the films kept coming. Here, our critics celebrate the greatest of our pandemic year.
  32. overnights
    Euphoria Special Recap: Something More Than YourselfThe series’s greatest strengths and weaknesses are revealed in a lo-fi Christmas episode centered on Zendaya’s Rue.
  33. movie review
    I’m Your Woman Brings a Character From the Margins of Crime Films to Its CenterThe Amazon Studios film, starring Rachel Brosnahan, seems aware of not only the genre’s masculine history but its novel possibilities.
  34. movie review
    Small Axe Is a RevelationSteve McQueen’s Lovers Rock is undoubtedly one of the most transfixing films of the year.
  35. movie review
    Kindred Has Haunted Me for WeeksI can’t stop thinking about what the film suggests — just under the surface — about Blackness, maternal life, and inheritance.
  36. movie review
    Bad Hair Fails the Very Audience It Seeks to ReflectIf this movie is the love letter to Black women that its director promises, it’s written with a poison pen.
  37. movie review
    Rebecca Is a Hollow, Turgid RetreadThe least this sexless Netflix version of Daphne du Maurier’s novel could do is to look lush and beautiful. Alas.
  38. tv review
    The Haunting of Bly Manor Is Unnerving Yet UnevenMike Flanagan’s Hill House follow-up uses the folds of a ghost story we know to tell a story about the boundaries of love.
  39. public theater
    God, Brad Pitt Is So Good at ThisHe’s a master class in how to play the game of celebrity. Case in point: his Fast Times performance.
  40. tv review
    Ratched Is the Worst Thing That Could Have Happened to Nurse RatchedRyan Murphy’s latest Netflix series is a craven, banal origin story that reduces an iconic character to a vessel for trauma.
  41. emmys 2020
    The Failure of Mrs. America’s Phyllis SchlaflyRevisiting the show, I started to think about Bette Davis’s performance in In This Our Life and what it takes to create a white female villain.
  42. chat room
    Alfre Woodard Discusses Police Violence and the Ending of ClemencyHer film about state-sanctioned violence has one of the most striking endings of any film in the past few years.
  43. movie review
    I Am Tired of Films Like AntebellumThis movie had the opportunity to show a more dynamic side of slavery narratives, but it ends up reaffirming the very horror it is trying to critique.
  44. filmmaking
    Looking Back at Watchmen’s Most Extraordinary Episode With Its DirectorDirector Stephen Williams breaks down the delicate balance of technical ambition and emotional clarity that led to “This Extraordinary Being.”
  45. close reads
    Let’s Talk About That I May Destroy You EndingIf trauma is a closed loop, then fantasy — which Michaela Coel makes nimble use of in “Ego Death” — is a field of endless potential.
  46. tv review
    Lower Decks Is Fun, But Star Trek Is Suffering an Identity CrisisFor all its raucous pleasures, the new animated series maintains an ironic posture at odds with what made this franchise great.
  47. master class
    What Beyoncé Tells Us Without Saying a WordA close read of nine formative images tell a complicated story about the artist’s politics.
  48. reading the stars
    Why Will and Jada’s Red Table Talk Is So Unusual in the History of CelebrityTo understand why, it’s helpful to look at how past couples navigated similarly rocky intersections in their relationships in the public eye.
  49. movie review
    Relic Is a Wrenching, Frustrating Horror Story of DementiaThe performances in writer-director Natalie Erika James’s debut film are haunting, but the movie seems hesitant to push its genre’s potential.
  50. movie review
    Miss Juneteenth Is a Gently Beautiful Film Worth CelebratingThe emotionally realized mother-daughter story is a testament to Nicole Beharie’s prowess as an actress.
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